


Unbalanced

by rsadelle



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-09-05
Updated: 1999-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-29 10:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rescue of Byers from a mental hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unbalanced

**Author's Note:**

> The hospital and the beach house are imaginary. As is Dr. Chase.

Things settled down after everything was all over. Mulder went back to non-alien X-Files, Skinner was promoted, Scully went into private practice, and we settled down to hack and build computers out of spare parts and publish articles on lesser conspiracies. But there were still powerful people out there who weren't happy with what we'd done. So they punished us. They took John. They had him declared mentally incompetent and locked him up in the psychiatric ward of Saint Catherine's.

Of course, we didn't know what happened at first. He just . . . disappeared. We filed a missing persons report and we looked. We hacked into everything we could think of that might help us find him. We even asked Mulder and Scully for any help they could give us. When we finally found out where he was, it was totally by accident. Scully was having a cup of coffee in the cafeteria at St. Catherine's and overheard a couple of residents discussing one of their psych patients. She did a little checking and found out that John was there and that he seemed to be totally crazy.

Mel hacked into the security cameras to see how bad it was. He didn't want to let me see the tapes. I guess I was kind of panicky and he only wanted to protect me, but I had to know what happened to John, and Mel finally let me see them. He had pictures of me posted on his walls. He was wearing my clothes. He even had a lock of my hair. That was how we figured out that They must have done it. Somebody had to have given those things to him and it certainly hadn't been me.

I tried to see him, but I was told quite firmly by a nurse that "Mr. Byers is not allowed to see visitors." I tried to insist. A doctor came out and interrupted the nurse.

"You're the guy in the pictures," he said, when he'd taken me to sit in the waiting area away from the nurse.

"Yes, I am. He's not crazy."

"Look, Mr.--"

"Langly."

"Mr. Langly, I realize this can be difficult, but Mr. Byers is an extremely ill man."

"No. He's not. You don't understand. They've done this to him."

"Mr. Langly--"

"Check his meds and his diagnosis. Talk to him. He's not crazy." I gave him a card. "Use a secure line."

Mel and I worked on a plan while we hoped and prayed that Dr. Chase would agree with us. He did. He called us back three days later. We picked him up at the hospital and brought him back to headquarters to explain the plan. He didn't want to be blindfolded, but relented after I insisted and Mel explained that it was "just a precaution." Scully met us there and explained that she was a doctor and that she knew John and furthermore that he was most emphatically not crazy. We worked out the plan to get him out and let Scully and Dr. Chase work out the best way to safely get him off the drugs they'd given him without causing any further damage.

We had to wait another two days until we could get him out, but once we did, it went without a hitch. Dr. Chase was on the late shift, so it was easy enough for him to get John past the nurses and out to where we were waiting. I pulled John into the van and Mel took off. John was still kind of confused because of the drugs, but he was with it enough to realize that I was there. He just clung to me, but I was clinging to him too. He drifted off after a while with his head in my lap and slept the rest of the way. We went to the beach house in Virginia. His parents left it to him when they died and we'd been there a couple of times to relax. We'd also put it under an alias so hopefully They wouldn't be able to find us there.

Once we got there, Mel hacked into St. Catherine's database to erase John's records. Scully swiped the paper copies and sent them to us so we could have the original documentation of everything they did to him. I took care of John. The first order of business was to get him clean and into more normal clothes. He wouldn't let go of me, so I stripped myself down as well and got into the shower with him. We got ourselves cleaned up and into boxers and t-shirts.

After our shower, I wanted to check with Mel to make sure all the records had been taken care of. I tried to put John to bed first, but he wouldn't go without me, so he clung to my hand as I talked to Mel and then we went to bed together. John draped himself over my body and fidgeted until I rested one hand on the back of his head and held him closer to me. Then he settled down and finally fell asleep.

It's been like that ever since we got him out. He won't leave my side for more than about five minutes. Usually I don't mind because I'd probably stick with him anyway, but sometimes it's too much. One day, he woke up from a nap, screaming, because I wasn't with him.

We do some computer work--we hack and put out the newsletter--and Scully comes to check up on us, and Mulder's been to visit once or twice, but most of the time, John and I just sit together. Sometimes we'll have the TV or radio on, but most of the time we just sit on a couch or a chair or even the floor. I think we're trying to reconnect, trying to regain our balance. It's like we're afraid that our time apart damaged us and we're trying to make sure that neither one of us disappears again.

It's getting easier. John can finally go outside, even if it is only as far as the porch, but it means I can walk on the beach as long as I stay within sight. We still haven't had sex since he got back, which is okay, but frustrating. I think we're getting closer, though. He kissed me the other day. A real, full, wonderful kiss on the lips. It's the first time since we got him back that he's initiated anything more than simple holding. So things aren't perfect, and he's not quite the same man he was before They hurt him, but we're okay and They haven't tried anything else, so I guess life is pretty good.


End file.
